Every romance author on the planet has been pinioned to the wall by the honed daggers of that question. Sometimes it is startlement that they’re actually “one of those” authors. Then, of course, the unasked questions: Is it smutty? Is it because you have such an awful marriage that you’re trying to escape. Of course, the answer to these questions is, “Hopefully!” and “What are you thinking?!” You try to explain that you’re just a person and some of us are luckier than others.
Right there’s where my path diverges from most. Here’s where I pop in and say just how totally off the deep end I am in love my wife and suddenly my maleness becomes the sole topic. Now, “You write what?!” earns that exclamation point and only expands the bewilderment.
I’ve learned a couple things from being a male writing in a mostly women’s world.
- These ladies have a seriously fun job. I get to make up worlds and characters. I get to write sex scenes and spend a lot of time thinking about falling in love. Damn, but that’s fun.
- Something can be embarrassing or fun, it just depends on how you look at it. Imagine if you came to my office. I lead a department that designs and delivers high-volume print jobs. It’s fast, it’s technical, and involves many computer nerds. And what’s sitting on the corner of my desk? Copies of the first two books of “The Night Stalkers” sporting hunky men and scantily clad soldier women. It took me a while to learn that if I treated it as fun, it was fun. I’ve had other departmental managers stop meetings at my desk while they read aloud a choice passage from one of my books to their staff. Do I blush or do I sit back wearing a foolish grin? I used to do the former, but I’ve learned the latter is more fun.
- I’ll grant that it’s military romantic suspense, but as many men as women pick it up from my desk. I’ve heard there’s a huge surge of men reading romance, now that they can do it on their e-reader without the, perhaps, lurid cover. That’s great and I try to keep that in mind as I write. I want the men to aspire to make themselves someone that an amazing woman could want to love that much. And to show women even half as magnificent as I see them.
- I’ve always been a romantic mush and the biggest thing about becoming a romance author, male or otherwise, is that I get to truly revel in it.
What do you revel in? I’d love to hear. And please check out the Contest Page on my website. By following along my blog tour for the month of August, you will have multiple chances to win a signed copy of I Own the Dawn.
Love this post. So much so that I just bought the first book on my Kindle.
I have never read a romance book written by a male (at least i dont think I have). now i will have to check it out. do males see the romance scenes as females do?? are the emotions the same?? the banter and foreplay? never thought about it. great post.!
I’ve often wondered if I’ve read any romances by guys using pseudonyms. Most books read like they’ve been written by women, but I dunno. 🙂
Ashley: Thanks
Julie: I’ve never, at least not knowingly, read a published romance by a male. I’ve read a number of manuscripts, but don’t know about published.
TrishJ: I tried to answer some of those questions on my blog for USAToday (http://www.matthewlieberbuchman.com/?p=320). The short answer is, I think, I write about the women and the men they just happen to deserve. Whereas I think a woman tends to write about the man and the woman who deserves them. I read/watch a romance for the woman, my wife reads/watches for the men. Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Bennet, that’s who I’m watching. Matthew Macfayden, yeah, okay. Maybe he deserves her. But I think that still tells the same story, the path of the man and woman to true love.
Great post and a compelling excerpt. Off to the Kindle store!
Sandy
Nice post. I think it’s an interesting POV to read about.
Can my job be as fun as yours? I pipette really small volumes of clear liquids from one tub to another all day, and engage only in the cut-and-dryness of scientific writing. Maybe I should write my dissertation as a love story for my protein… 😛
P.S. Love The Night Stalkers!
…and with a practiced easing of pressure she collected three microliters of solution into the slender clear glass pipette. What next? Her hands seemed to know as they followed the well-practiced motion of adding the precious drop of fluid to the softly brown agar-growth medium. But her mind… Her mind had other thoughts going completely aside from those needed for her immediate task. Thoughts of how his eyes would look upon her, if she decided to give him the chance. But some quiet inner voice told her that it would be a mistake. If she peeled back that layer of his overt attention, she knew she wouldn’t much like what she found. For the moment, she’d let his agar-brown eyes remain an idle fantasy. Best solution… for now. 🙂